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The War Within

On Friday, Sept. 20, 11 days before funding for the federal government would run out, forcing a shutdown, the House passed the modified Graves CR to fund the government while defunding Obamacare. The vote was 230 to 189 for the bill, which Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid had already declared dead on arrival. Boehner’s next legislative gambit was a CR delaying funding of Obamacare for a year. The Senate voted this down as well. On Sept. 30, with America poised on the brink of a shutdown, hard-line Republicans were exultant, while other GOP members expressed dismay—often openly, as when Devin Nunes described the hard-liners as “lemmings in suicide vests,” which White House press secretary Jay Carney was only too happy to repeat on TV.

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Nunes: Yeah, Carney said it. Lots of people used lots of phrases. Mine was just funnier, I think.

Labrador: I know from history that shutting down the government has an immediate impact, but it dissipates after a while. You never have long-term consequences after a shutdown. In fact, the opposite has happened, ironically: If you look at the reports, after shutdowns you actually have economic growth.

Dent: I felt very strongly that nothing good ever comes out of a government shutdown. When one is in the majority, we have an affirmative obligation to govern. It’s that simple. And if we fail in that very basic responsibility, the American people will judge us harshly.

Duncan: I will say this: The times I’ve seen our conference the most unified, the most jovial, are when our conference was actually standing on things that reflect Republican principles.

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Immediately following the Oct. 1 shutdown, House Republicans began offering piecemeal legislation—to reopen war memorials, restore veterans’ benefits, fund Head Start and the National Institutes of Health—so as to force Democrats either to capitulate or to vote against funding their pet causes. But Obama and Reid held firm. They would not negotiate—not to avert (or later reverse) a government shutdown and not to prevent a government default. Even moderate Republicans were taken aback.

Grimm: One thing leadership didn’t expect was the president saying, “I’m not talking at all.” I don’t think anyone would expect that of a world leader. It’s not like we’re Iran! We’re a co-equal branch of government!

Labrador: Our leadership believes that President Obama would never default on the debt, that he would find a way to not do that. I actually disagree with that. I think … his number-one priority is to destroy the Republican Party.

Weber: The guy wants to be a king, wants to be a dictator. And if we don’t stand up and scream loud and long from the rooftops, who will?

Meadows: [Vice President] Joe Biden knows how to negotiate. I met with him with regards to Syria, and he changed my opinion—I called his chief of staff back to let him know that I was persuaded by what he shared. So I would’ve liked to have seen him involved in this.

House Speaker John Boehner at the Capitol on Oct. 10. | M.Scott Mahaskey/POLITICO

But the public did not seem moved by the Republicans’ point of view; polls overwhelmingly blamed the GOP for the impasse. In private conference, a few conservatives, such as Tom McClintock, openly expressed disbelief at such numbers, while others called them entirely predictable.

Tom McClintock: I was astonished that the American people were not repulsed by an administration and a Senate refusing to negotiate a shutdown that was being vindictively and ruthlessly amplified, and that, with the Obamacare program unraveling in front of our eyes, the American people weren’t supporting the position we were taking. I don’t know why to this day.

Grimm: There were people who think, “We’re winning.” You can’t argue with that. It’s not based on tangible fact. You’ll say, “What about this poll?” and they’ll pivot—they’ll say, “Well, that’s not accurate.”

Labrador: Making a decision based on a poll that we knew was going to come out before we even engaged in the fight is not the way you show leadership in America. I think you show leadership by clearly articulating to the American people what this fight is about. But I don’t think this conference can handle the fight. They start worrying about what the polls are saying, or about what the negative phone calls are from the district, or about what Wall Street is saying.

Needham: I think that’s refreshing for a lot of people, to see a political party that’s actually willing to take political risk to change policy.

Dent: There was a certain amount of denial going on. Kind of like Monty Python and the Holy Grail, the guy who gets his arm cut off: “Oh, it’s just a flesh wound! Come back here and fight again!”

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In a closed-door conference meeting, moderates pointed to the polls and warned that the Obamacare strategy could cost them the House in next year’s midterm elections. Conservatives responded in turn that capitulation could endanger them in their 2014 primaries.

McCarthy: A moderate stood up and said, “You got a primary? Just win it. I’ve got to win a primary and the general election. So quit crying.”

Labrador: What [the moderates] have said is it doesn’t matter if I lose my primary, because we’re always going to have a Republican [in my district]. What matters is that they can win their general [against a Democrat]. I mean, how arrogant is that? And the other thing they say is that I can actually win my election by taking on the Tea Party. And I’d like to see them try it.

There was a certain amount of denial going on. Kind of like Monty Python and the Holy Grail, the guy who gets his arm cut off: “Oh, it’s just a flesh wound! Come back here and fight again!”

Grimm: And what I say to that argument is, “So then you’re admitting you’re not putting your country first, you’re putting your primary first.” I have a tough election every time. But yet I take tough votes all the time, because I have a longer-term outlook to say, “OK, if we go down as a party on these issues, then [House Minority Leader] Nancy Pelosi is gonna have the gavel, and I’ve jeopardized my whole country.” So though this vote isn’t what I want to take, I’ll do this for the country’s sake. And that’s the difference between the two groups.